


Simple Life

by MaeTaurus



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Fluff, Genderqueer Character, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:36:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaeTaurus/pseuds/MaeTaurus
Summary: Dan is genderqueer, and although they aren't fully ready to come out, they do let Phil paint their nails during a liveshow they do during the Australia leg of Interactive Introverts.





	Simple Life

**Author's Note:**

> As always, shout out to [chocolatesaucelester](http://chocolatesaucelester.tumblr.com/) for reading this over for me.
> 
> I wrote this for [phandomficfests](https://phandomficfests.tumblr.com/)'s phan bingo challenge and used the following prompts: Instagram, cherry, hairstyles, and gender changes.
> 
> like/reblog on [Tumblr](http://maetaurus.tumblr.com/post/178963085700/simple-life)

“Hey Phil!” Dan called, walking into the bedroom of the Airbnb they were staying at in Queensland, Australia.

Phil looked up from his laptop and smiled at Dan. “Hey, what’s up?”

Dan sat on the edge of the bed and grinned. “I have an idea.”

“Uh oh…” Phil said warily.

“Hey it’s a good idea!” they said defensively, laughing and playfully hitting Phil’s knee.

Phil laughed. “Alright alright what is it?”

Dan held up a small clear bag that held all the nail polish fans had given them at meet and greets. “We should do a livestream on Instagram where you paint my nails.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Phil asked, closing his laptop and sitting up. 

“Yeah, I know we’re partnered with Rize but we both know it sucks ass. And we did a Rize stream two days ago so this is just a bonus one,” Dan said.

Phil shook his head. “No that’s not what I meant. I think using Instagram is fine, I meant about painting your nails.”

Dan smiled and nodded. “I’m sure about that too. I’m still not ready to come out to everyone as genderqueer but they know I’ve painted my nails before so it’s not that big of a deal. Plus I wanna start slowly coming out, ease them into the idea of it instead of just throwing it all at them at once.”

Phil leaned forward and pecked Dan’s lips. “If you’re sure then I think it sounds like a great idea, let’s do it!”

“Yay! I already have my phone set up on a tripod in front of the couch,” Dan grinned as they stood up. They took Phil’s hands and smiled as he got up as well.

“Oh I see, so you were just gonna force me to do it if I said no?” Phil joked.

Dan laughed. “Well maybe,” they giggled. “I had a feeling you’d say yes though.”

They both headed to the main room of the house. Martyn and Cornelia had gone out for the day leaving Dan and Phil alone in the house. It was secluded in the middle of a rainforest so they had plenty of privacy, and plenty of bugs.

In addition to putting their phone on a tripod, Dan had also gotten a lot of napkins to prepare for the mess they were about to make. They’d learned the hard way that Phil’s clumsiness and open bottles of nail polish don’t exactly mix.

“No offense but I don’t trust you on the couch,” Dan said as they sat down on the floor in front of the couch with their legs crossed.

“I’d argue but you’re probably right,” Phil said with a slight blush. He sat down opposite Dan so they were facing each other. “Have you picked a color?”

Dan shook their head. “No, I thought we could get the viewers to help pick.”

Phil smiled. “I love that idea. Ready?”

Dan nodded. They opened up Instagram, deciding not to post anything beforehand to surprise their viewers. They pressed the button to start a livestream and grinned.

Despite having no warning, it didn’t take long for their viewers to figure out they were live. The viewer count steadily increased. “Hi everyone!”

“Surprise!” Phil shouted, throwing his arms up.

“Welcome to a surprise stream,” Dan said with a grin. “We thought we’d try a stream on here today, just to try something new.” They couldn’t say they hated Rize since they were sponsoring their tour, so Dan told the half truth about why they were on Instagram.

Phil said hello to some people as they joined, shouting out their names. “Laura wants to know why we’re on the floor,” he said, looking at Dan so they could answer.

“Well I’ve convinced Phil to paint my nails for me and he isn’t to be trusted with nail polish on furniture. He ruined my sheets last time,” Dan said, playfully glaring at Phil.

He rolled his eyes and smiled. Phil loved painting Dan’s nails, even if he wasn’t great at it. He found it rather relaxing, plus it was an excuse to hold his partner’s hands for an extended period of time while doing something nice for them. Phil stuck his tongue out at Dan and giggled. 

Dan read the chat, seeing people starting to freak out about Phil painting Dan’s nails for them. “I put all the nail stuff you guys have given me into this bag,” they said, holding up the clear makeup bag. “I thought it would be fun for you guys to pick the color.”

“Black obviously,” Phil joked, smirking at Dan.

“What do you guys think? There’s a lot of pinks and blues,” Dan said, ignoring Phil. Dan got out some of the colors that they liked best.

Phil picked up a nail art pen. “Oooh what’s this for?”

Dan grabbed it from him. “No no no I do not trust you to do actual nail art on my nails,” they said.

Phil grinned. “But Danny that sounds like fun,” he whined.

The whole chat was exploding with people agreeing with Phil. Dan rolled their eyes. “Guys you’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Come on, isn’t this tour about giving the people what they want?”

Dan sighed. “Okay fine but we still have to pick a color.”

“Yay!” Phil cheered.

“Okay okay, what about a mint?” Dan asked the chat, holding up a few bottles that were mint green.

After going back and forth several times, a bight blue that was almost teal was finally chosen.

“While Phil does my nails, I thought we could do a little Q&A so start sending in your questions,” Dan said.

Phil put a towel over their laps so he wouldn’t ruin the floor with nail polish. He grabbed Dan’s right hand and picked up the brush. “Okay, here we go,” Phil said before starting.

Dan wasn’t at all surprised to see the chat freaking out about Phil holding their hand. “Evie asks, Dan why do you paint your nails?” they read. “Well the short answer is because I like to,” Dan said. “The long answer is that it’s another form of self-expression and I think it’s a small but fun way to express yourself. Fashion is great but nails are easier since you can take off the polish and start over with a new look if you change your mind or are feeling differently that day.”

“Plus it’s the only color Dan has in his life,” Phil said, smirking. He had to force himself to misgender Dan, knowing that Dan wasn’t ready to come out and the two of them had many conversations about it before and Dan said it was easier if Phil referred to them as a ‘he’ in front of their audience. 

“Now Phil that’s not true, I have you,” Dan said with a cheesy grin. They both laughed and made fake gagging noises.

Dan looked back at the chat to find a new question. “Okay Phil this one's for you. Zara wants to know why you didn’t get rid of your fringe sooner.” 

Phil finished the nail he was on then looked at the phone. “Well I made a video on my main channel about this but mostly it was because I was worried you guys wouldn’t like me anymore if I changed such a big part of my branding.”

Dan looked at Phil as he spoke then looked at the chat. “Lots of people are saying they wouldn’t have stopped liking you for that,” they said.

“Yeah, I know. My hair was such a small part of my branding but I had it in my head that it was so much bigger than it was. I was scared that if I changed even one small thing everything would fall apart,” Phil explained. “Thanks anxiety,” he added lightheartedly.

“Anxiety is the best,” Dan joked. They held up their right hand to the phone. “Look, coat number one is done!”

Phil grinned. “How’d I do?”

“I think it’s some of your best work,” Dan said with a smile, looking down at their own nails and admiring them. Phil hadn’t done a perfect job but it was nothing Dan couldn’t clean up later.

Phil grinned and started on Dan’s left hand.

“Next question, what made you both decide to change your hair? That one is from Karen,” Dan read. “Well for me I just got tired of constantly straightening my hair. And after I got a haircut, the hairstylist left it curly and I realized that it actually looked pretty good being curly with the new haircut. So I just stopped straightening it completely.”

“So basically you’re lazy?” Phil laughed.

“Yep!” Dan agreed, laughing along with him.

Phil smiled fondly at Dan. “I finally decided to change my hair after months of Dan telling me it looked good. I’d have my hair up in a quiff most of the time at home to keep my hair out of my eyes and I’d been considering getting rid of the fringe for months but I was always too scared to actually do it. But Dan finally convinced me to just go for it. I think seeing Dan with curly hair helped me get confidence to change my hair as well,” he said. He looked up at Dan and smiled.

Dan smiled back at him. “So you’re saying I’m the reason you took the plunge and cut off the iconic fringe?”

“Well I had to have someone to blame in case the internet hated it,” Phil laughed.

“Gee thanks,” Dan said sarcastically.

They took a break from the deep questions and moved onto some lighter topics.

“Favorite piece of tour merch?”

“I’d have to say the jacket,” Phil said.

Dan nodded. “I agree. It’s so different from other merch we’ve done.” They scanned the chat for another question. “Ooh this is a good one. What’s the biggest mistake we’ve made on stage?”

Phil laughed. “You mean other than tripping and falling over?”

“Oh my god let’s not get started on that, we somehow designed a death trap instead of a stage set,” Dan groaned.

“Without any spoilers I’d say my biggest mistake was forgetting the words to a very specific part of the show,” Phil said. “Which honestly I think I mess up that part more often than I get it perfect.”

“Usually it’s small mistakes that the audience wouldn’t notice,” Dan said, defending Phil. “My biggest mistake was forgetting a prop. There’s one section where we use a lot of props and before the show I forgot to put one in the box and didn’t notice until we were in the middle of the show and I needed it.”

Phil laughed as he remembered that. “Yeah, that was pretty funny. But it was one of our first shows and our crew have learned to not trust Dan with important objects.”

Dan laughed and rolled their eyes. “I mean… yeah you’re right. I just sit things down and walk away and completely forget I was even holding anything.”

Phil held up both of Dan’s hands to the phone. “I finished with both hands! Now we have to decide what nail art I’m gonna do on top,” he grinned.

“How about you do one tiny dot?” Dan suggested.

Phil glared at Dan.

“What? I like minimalism,” Dan joked, giggling at how annoyed Phil was pretending to be. “Okay okay I’m open to other suggestions. But I still think it should be something simple.”

Phil looked at the chat and started reading out suggestions. “Dogs, cat whiskers, a whisk, Phil’s face, a penis.”

“A penis? Seriously? You are not drawing a penis on my nails!”

“Why not? It’s what the people want,” Phil grinned.

Dan rolled their eyes. “Honestly guys how thirsty do you think I am?”

Phil covered his mouth to hide his smile as he laughed. “Want some water, Danny?” he teased.

Dan glared at Phil. “Oh fuck off,” they groaned, shoving Phil playfully. “Okay I’ll pick suggestions now. You’re not to be trusted with such an important decision.”

Phil pouted and pretended to be offended. 

“Molly suggested cherries,” Dan said.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer a pina colada?” Phil asked, hiding his smirk from the camera.

Dan looked over at Phil and gave him a warning look.

“What?” Phil asked, giggling.

“Do we need to have a word?”

“No you’re right. I’m sorry, I forgot, pina colada is too sticky.”

“Phil!” Dan grabbed a pillow off the couch and hit Phil with it. 

Phil laughed and threw it back at Dan. 

When Dan looked back at the chat, they saw most people freaking out and a lot of people were very confused. 

“Cherries is a good idea though,” Phil said. “It’s just two dots and two lines.”

Dan shrugged. “Yeah, how about you try it on some paper first,” they said, getting out the nail pens for Phil to use.

Phil grinned and practiced a few times on some paper. “See?” he said, holding up the paper to show Dan and the camera. “I think I can do that on your nails.”

“Alright, go ahead,” Dan said, holding their hands out to Phil. “Let’s do a few more questions.”

Phil painted the first cherry design on Dan’s thumb nail. He grinned as he admired his work, proud of himself for not messing up.

Dan read out some more questions, mostly ones about their gaming channel and touring. They answered most of the questions while Phil focused on painting cherries on their nails.

“Done!” Phil announced. He closed the nail pen and put it down. “What do you think?”

Dan looked down and smiled. “I’m impressed Phil, these actually look great! Well this one kind of looks like a Christmasy penis,” they said, laughing as they showed the camera.

“Hey! It’s just um two mutant cherries growing on the same stem,” Phil giggled, defending himself.

“Yeah, how convincing,” Dan laughed. They showed their nails to the camera and smiled. “Well this was fun guys, thanks for keeping me entertained while Phil painted my nails. Maybe we’ll do more streams like this in the future.”

“Does that mean you’re gonna let me paint your nails more?” Phil grinned.

Dan shrugged. “Maybe, we’ll see,” they said with a smile. 

Phil smiled at Dan then waved to the camera. “Bye guys!” He pressed the button to end the stream, waiting to make sure it ended properly before he looked at Dan. “I’m proud of you.”

Dan blushed and looked down. “Why? All I did was let you paint my nails.”

“I know, but that’s still the first step towards coming out. I know it’s gonna be a long, slow journey but I’m proud of you for being brave enough to start it at all. I’m gonna be here holding your hand the whole time,” Phil promised. He cupped Dan’s cheek gently and smiled.

“Thank you,” Dan said softly. They leaned forward and pressed their lips to Phil’s. “Thank you for everything.”


End file.
